MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women’s volleyball team has announced its schedule for the 2012 fall campaign as the Golden Eagles begin their attempt for a second consecutive NCAA Championship bid.

“We have built our program to be one of the best in the country by playing the best in the country and we are playing another high quality schedule this year,” fourth-year Marquette head coach Bond Shymansky said. “We expect very tough challenges during the first four weeks of the season to get us ready for the rigors of the BIG EAST slate. We are most excited about hosting 19 home matches at the Al McGuire Center this fall. This gives our loyal supporters plenty of chances to help us to victory, and a great opportunity for us to build on our home court advantage with another record-breaking season.”

The Golden Eagles will face seven teams this year that competed in the 2011 NCAA tournament.

The Golden Eagles kick off the fall slate when they host the Marquette Challenge on Aug. 24-26 at the Al McGuire Center. Marquette welcomes Bowling Green and Northwestern to Milwaukee for that first weekend of competition, and will begin the season against the Falcons at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 24.

A Sunday, Aug. 26 matinee will see the Golden Eagles play a 2 p.m. contest against Northwestern, a squad they last faced in Evanston, Ill., during the 2010 season.

Marquette will make its lone trek out of Milwaukee for the non-conference schedule with a tournament hosted by Xavier University on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. The Golden Eagles will take on Mississippi and Tennessee Tech Friday before playing fellow-Jesuit university, Xavier, on Saturday.

The Ambassador Hotel Golden Eagle Classic plays host to 2011 NCAA tournament squads Michigan and Northern Iowa, as well as Eastern Michigan and Wake Forest, on Sept. 7-9 at the Al McGuire Center. Both UNI and Michigan appeared in the Gainesville Regional along with the Golden Eagles in 2011 and have both defeated Marquette during Shymansky’s tenure at MU (at Michigan (2009) at UNI (2011)).

This year’s Marquette Invitational welcomes Pacific and Iowa to the Al McGuire Center, in addition to the Milwaukee Panthers. Former MU All-American Nikki Klingsporn joined Milwaukee staff as an assistant coach in late March and will return to the Al McGuire Center for the first time on the visitor’s bench.

The Golden Eagles will begin BIG EAST Conference play by hosting their travel partner, Syracuse, in a 1 p.m. match on Saturday, Sept. 22 before a road trip to Notre Dame and DePaul on Sept. 29-30.

A mid-October homestand featuring reigning BIG EAST tournament-champion Cincinnati and Louisville travelling to Milwaukee highlights the conference slate for the Golden Eagles, as both squads reached the NCAA Championship in 2011. MU welcomes the Bearcats on Friday, Oct. 19 and Louisville on Sunday, Oct. 21.

The Golden Eagles will make a mid-week trip to the Klotsche Center to face Milwaukee on Tuesday, Oct. 30 in a rare break from conference play before finishing up with three of their last four league games at the Al McGuire Center.

Marquette’s final weekend of BIG EAST competition will feature a trip to Louisville on Friday, Nov. 9 before closing out regular season conference play against Notre Dame at home on Sunday, Nov. 11. Both Louisville and Notre Dame are repeat opponents as the BIG EAST elected to go with two home-and-home matchups following the departure of West Virginia.

The BIG EAST Championship kicks off on Friday, Nov. 16 in Pittsburgh, Pa., with quarterfinal action, followed by the league semifinals and final on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Marquette will return home following the conference tournament to host Northern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 6 p.m., before turning its attention the NCAA Championship selection show on Sunday evening.

The Golden Eagles welcome back four starters, including 2011 AVCA All-American Danielle Carlson, and 11 letter winners from a squad that claimed Marquette’s first NCAA Championship appearance and recorded a program-record 24 victories.

A season ticket pass for 2012 women's volleyball regular-season home games is available now for just $30 by calling the Marquette ticket office at 414-288-4668.